This photo album by French photographer Pascal Beaudenon is one of my favorite photo albums of Lebanon. You may be surprised by these photos. Many have a different impression of the Middle East. While the geography and topography of Lebanon is singular compared to the surrounding regions, the photos do show how striking the Middle East can be.

Often people are most surprised to learn that snow sports are very popular in Lebanon, and that indeed there is snow as can be seen in the photos of Mount Lebanon. In February 2009 I was taking a stroll on the beach in Beirut. It was a beautiful and sunny day, and many people had come to swim or to relax and smoke their argiles (Arabic smoke pipe, or a hooka). On my stroll I met a girl from Switzerland. She had come to Lebanon to ski. I thought this was amusing: That she came from St. Moritz, a place renowned for one of the finest skiing resorts in the world, to ski in Lebanon; and to be able to swim and ski in the same day, only hours apart. Lebanon is a small country, slightly smaller than then US state of Connecticut. The mountain ranges are quite high, however, and very close to the ocean. Barely an hour drive separates skiing and the beach, and from late February to May it is very possible to do both.

The Other Lebanon photo album